An overdue update and a baby fever story

Its been a while since we updated you on our quest for real estate stability. So, here goes.
Earlier last month we decided to pull the house off the market and look for a renter. We looked at the market and recognized that we wouldn't get what we know the house is worth if we kept it on the market in the market's current state. We went through our agent and found a good property manager. He found us a nice family, they might have had their baby by now, and we are now landlords.
Because we are getting a little more than half of our mortgage with the rent (I would love to ask for more rent but because so many people bought when the houses were first built, well, they can ask a lot less than we can for rent), there is a little more breathing room. Once we started to see the rent checks, I talked to DH about getting some housekeeping help. I took a cue from Alphagal on this one.
Those of you with kids understand how hectic life gets with a little one and how difficult it can be to keep up with everything. With me in school and working full time and DH on the road part of the time, I wanted to get some help. We had our first visit yesterday and I am thrilled to know that every couple of weeks we will have someone to come over and scrub our bathtubs and all that. One less thing to stress out about.
Ok, so with yesterday being our first day, we kind of had to vacate for a while. Miss C got a fever (about 102F) on Saturday afternoon and started me worrying. I gave her some Tylenol and gave Alphagal a call since she has more experience with this stuff than I do. She suggested checking Miss C's temp within 4 hours (the general effective time for Tylenol) and if it hasn't dropped to call the doctor. We had a quick dinner (quick because Miss C didn't want much, a clue to me that something was wrong) and decided to check.
Have I mentioned that one of the problems with military medicine is that it isn't like civilian medicine. You can't generally reach your doctor on the weekends and our clinic here isn't open on the weekends or after 11pm during the week. Ok, on with the story.
I checked Miss C's temp and was a bit freaked out to discover it was 103.7F. I looked down at my little angel and said "ok, baby, adventure time." and off we went to the hospital. I gave her another dose of Tylenol on the way out the door, hoping it would help.
We got there and they checked her temp. Yea, it was still a pretty high temp. They did the preliminary stuff and gave Miss C a dose of Motrin while we waited on the doctor. The doctor eventually got there and checked Miss C out. He said she had a cold, what I thought to begin with, and once her temp dropped, sent us home.
Come Monday, Miss C wasn't back to herself but she wasn't running a high fever so I decided to take her to day care while the housekeepers were here. Around noon, I got a phone call. Miss C's temp was 101.5F and we decided to go home. I gave her some more Tylenol and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. I called her doctor again and managed to get an appointment for this morning.
While it seemed that the Tylenol was working, the fever didn't really go away. I tried to give her a bath and she howled. With most kids, this would be kind of normal. Miss C, however, loves her baths (another clue to me). Come 1030pm, Miss C woke up and cried her eyes out. She refused to be comforted. She woke up every half hour (worse than when she was 2 weeks old!) and wouldn't let me lay her down. When she finally did lay down, she rolled to her side and cupped her ear (another clue to me).
At 2am, I finally got her down for the night. She slept pretty well and didn't get up until 8am. Her fever seemed to get better but we were still going to the doctor. When we got there, her fever was gone and the nurses seemed to think I was kind of loony to be there. I love judgemental folks.
The doctor came in and I convinced him to check her ears very closely. Alas, the culprit! She has an ear infection. We apparently caught it pretty early. I got a script for Amoxicillin and Miss C has been getting back to her normal, happy self this afternoon. She is down for a nap and seems to be doing much better than this past weekend.
Sorry this was so long, but I just wanted to pass along the "trust Mommy instinct" message. The doctors and nurses all thought I was kind of out of it because the little girl they saw was pretty happy. They just didn't realize that this wasn't the uberhappy Miss C I am used to. I am grateful that we have been lucky with her health this far. Miss C is almost 1 year old and this is the first time we have been sick like this. I feel for ya'll who've kids have been sick this winter. I knew it was tough but ugh!

OOOhhhh.... Flowwwweeerrrrs

Yep, you thought I was done with that, huh? Me too! Ok, how to explain?
A couple of days ago DH and I received an email from our realtor up north. If you have checked our flickr site lately, you will notice that the builder is completing the framing for the downstairs part of the new house and wanted us to pick our colors for outside. Easy, right? Maybe if you're not pregnant. Allow me to continue.
So, yesterday after DH got home from work he asks me, so very sweetly, "how about we go over to Lowes and see about house paint?" I said, sure. Let's do that. I got on my shoes. Wait. No. I slipped on my flip flops (that's a carry over from Hawaii, not a preggers thing!) and I was rearing to go. We drive the 1.2 miles (just across the way from the grocery store) and we were there!
We pulled into the parking lot and started in. Now, if you've ever done any home improvement or anything, you understand that these places have loads of items out front. Yesterday there were grills and, yep, really pretty flowers out front. As we neared the entrance I made a ninety degree turn to the left and started looking at the flowers. I swear I said "Oh, look at the pretty flowers..." NO kidding! We have no where for these things and I know we were there to pick our paint but did that help, NO! DH looked at me, laughed and said "Flllooooowwwwweeeeeeeeeeersss." Then he took my arm and said "Paint, love, we're here for paint."
At that point my focus was broken and we walked in the store. From that point, it was quite simple. We asked the paint guy which was indoor and which was outdoor paint. We quickly agreed that Stone Grey (Olympic paint) is great for the outside and Brie (Olympic paint again, very versatile stuff!) is good for the inside. DH wants to wait to see if he will paint Miss C's nursery once we get there or if its going to be mainly my decorating. Either way, it took all of 10 minutes to figure out what we wanted, grab two of the cards for each (one to mail north, one to keep so we have a copy of what we sent). I am sure I heard a sigh of relief when we got back to the car. Until...
Well, I offered to run into the grocery store if DH stopped by on the way home. I didn't even have the list, I just thought i remembered what was on it. DH said, "well, do you really need anything right now?" I conceded that, no, I didn't need anything. He then said, "I'll go later then, love. Let's get you home for a nap."
The moral of the story is this. Next time a woman you love gets distracted, don't try to scare her. Its like sleep walking. Just help her break the spell!Oooohhh....flowwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrssss.